With Black 47, a musical feast

Marc Blandori photoAre you ready for one of the best live shows in music? Black 47, left to right: Joseph Burcaw, Fred Parcells, Joseph Mulvanerty, Larry Kirwan, Geoffrey Blythe, Thomas Hamlin.

BY DEAN BALSAMINI

You don’t have to be Irish to figure out that the best way to cap off St. Patrick’s Day following a trip to the Parade is a Black 47 concert.

And you happen to be in luck.

The Celtic rockers headline B.B. King’s Blues Club & Grill in Manhattan tomorrow night. Doors open at 5 p.m. Showtime is 7 p.m. The Lia Fail Pipe Band opens. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 the day of the show.

B.B. King’s is located at 237 W. 42nd St. For additional information, call 212-997-4144.

Larry Kirwan, Black 47’s epic singer-songwriter, said fans can expect the usual raucous gig, but the band will be extra-pumped due to St. Patrick’s Day.

Kirwan, who formed the socially conscious Black 47 in 1989 to give voice to ideas of freedom and cultural renewal, said he was pleased by the momentum of Occupation Wall Street.

“I think it’s great in that it’s getting a new generation speaking out against the current economic situation,” Kirwan told the Advance during a phone interview this week. “During the Iraq War, they were sadly missing from the debate. However, I would say that their stand is a bit amorphous in that there seem to be very few practical demands.

“Pressure should be put on the big corporations, who are right now profiting greatly from reducing their work forces. Corporate profits are at their highest in many years. How about adopting the apprentice system fostered by German companies, where they partner with the government in providing paid openings for young workers? With social media, we can organize boycotts of companies such as Apple, who are making huge profits but not supporting American workers. We have the power to change that — just not the will or the imagination to do so.”

“People are obsessing about [Mitt] Romney’s money or [Rick] Santorum’s desire to resurrect the Spanish Inquisition, but my real problem with them is their economic policies. Their only solution is to cut taxes and slash budgets. Check the U.K. and Europe for what happens when you cut budgets instantly — you deepen recession and stop growth, the last thing we need. Romney is promising great economic management but in his one test so far he would have allowed the American car industry to go under. Not a good sign.

“Jobs will return under Obama’s ‘steady as we go’ economic plan. However, what type of jobs will they be? Service-economy jobs that won’t allow people to enter the middle class.

“It’s really time for people to stop putting their faith in the two parties. Right now it’s half a loaf with the Democrats, no loaf at all with the Republicans.”